1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the mobile internet and, more particularly, to a method of transmitting information to a mobile telephone via the packet data network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A situation often experienced by a mobile telephone subscriber, whether in a vehicle or on foot, in a remote and unfamiliar geographical area, is the need to obtain assistance, information and/or aid promptly. For example, in the case of a breakdown or disabling of a vehicle where roadside assistance is required, the person in need must select a most convenient and suitable provider of the required service. Under normal circumstances, this is at best difficult and highly time consuming. Even when the vehicle is provided with wireless communication, for example, a mobile telephone, the problem still exists in locating a service provider, and, in those instances where time is important, locating and obtaining the telephone number of the nearest service provider.
A similar situation occurs when a traveler, using a mobile telephone in a remote geographical area needs to reach a specific type of service provider in that area such as a hotel or a restaurant. Wireless telecommunication systems currently support the use of mobile terminals that are capable of both voice and data communication. These devices typically include an integrated wireless telephone and a software controlled data terminal that implements a micro browser for web surfing and other data communication activities. These features have been used to advantage by commercial entities, which have employed data network (e.g., Internet) servers to provide customer service information via web page documents sent to micro browser equipped wireless terminals. With their integrated telephony equipment, mobile stations can request and receive such information while a subscriber is at any location served by the wireless network. The advantages of location-dependent personalization of customer service information are several. For example, a mobile station subscriber located in a remote geographical area can obtain and call the telephone number of a specific service such as a hotel, a restaurant etc.
The third generation of the CDMA technology defines packet data networking described in the Mobile IP standards (RFC 2002, IS 835). The standard allows a mobile data source to maintain its own IP address while accessing the network (Internet, Corporate Intranet) from any location that supports Mobile IP. The main components of the Mobile IP network are the PDSN/FA (Packet Data Service Node/Foreign Agent) and the Home Agent (HA). The Home Agent is responsible for user authentication/service authorization as well as “tunneling” responses back to the Mobile Station (MS) from servers that were accessed by the MS.
Currently, there are certain situations where the network resources, when using a mobile telephone or a computing device for data communications, are not utilized in the most efficient way. For example, a mobile user with the home location in New York while visiting La Jolla, Calif. makes a call which establishes a connection from the wireless network in La Jolla, Calif., to a PDSN/FA in San Diego. The MS has an IP address that points to the Home Network in New York. To authenticate the user, the Foreign Agent (FA) connects to the HA in New York. After authentication/authorization, the user will ask for services by sending IP packets to the PDSN. The user may request seafood restaurant recommendations that are within two miles of his/her current position. The PDSN forwards the user's IP packets to the service provider server that, in this example, is Los Angeles. The network determines the user's current location and provides him/her with a list of restaurants. The server sends the packets to the source address obtained from the user's packets. This address points to the home network in New York and the packets will be forwarded to the HA in NY. The Home Agent determines that the packets are intended to the MS, and sends them in a “tunnel” (previously established between the PDSN/FA and the HA) to the PDSN/FA. The PDSN/FA terminates the tunnel and sends the packets to the MS over the radio network. Thus, these packets, instead of being sent from LA directly to San Diego, and then to the MS in La Jolla, they are actually sent from LA to New York and back to San Diego to be forwarded to La Jolla. Clearly, in the above noted example, if the transmission of the list of restaurants between New York and San Diego can be eliminated, the use of the network resources would be decreased and the round trip delay would be reduced. This invention is directed towards solving this problem.